vlog 25-03: Trumpeter 1/48 Hawker Sea Hawk Part 2

I’ve realized having spent the last few years building various scifi properties – Ma. K, Gunpla, Warhammer, Bandai Star Wars, and so forth, I’ve gotten a bit spoiled.

For the most part Bandai and Warhammer kits have very little to deal with regarding seam lines. And while there are some on Ma. K kits, the fact that ALL of it is essentially make-believe (yes, it’s true…) means you can fill them in, make them into panel lines, cover them with access panels, or do whatever you want. “Accurate” is not really a word in those worlds. At least in my little corner of it…

And while this Trumpeter Sea Hawk fits together very well, there are some definite seam lines to be reckoned with. Even when a join is “perfect” in that the parts line up nicely with no gaps, some sanding is still required to cover that up. Which of course requires additional work to restore the actual panel lines.

Yet as I worked on the model for this video, it occurred to me I’m glad I’d gone through this on hundreds of aircraft in the past. I’m glad I had to work out orders of assembly that might depart from the instructions. I’m glad that I had to plan a wide variety of sub-assembly options on nearly every kit.

Because in the end all of that prepared me for the next model. And the next. And the next. The very repetition that becomes repetitive helps the repeated builds be successful. (I’m not sure what I said in that last sentence, but it sure sounds fancy! 🤪 )

It’s all a growth process. We learn as we fail, we learn as we succeed, we learn as we struggle, and we learn as we breeze through things. And in looking back, I think it was the struggles and failures that increase the frequency of the “successful breezes”.

So there’s nothing hard about these seam lines really. In planning the build I knew exactly what I would face. And while this first aircraft build in many years reminded me how those must be dealt with, the work of the past has equipped me to say “no big deal”.

Do you want to grow in the hobby?

Repetitions. You must put in the reps.